Time to upgrade... advice?

DG1303

DG1303

DG1303

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8 Jun 2018
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Hi all,

thinking its time to upgrade my CPU/Mobo. I play a lot of battlefield 1 (and want to play BFV smoothly when its out) which i know is a high CPU utilisation game but its made me aware my current i5 3570k (OC to 4.2Ghz) is getting old despite being an awesome processor. BF1 runs at a choppy 30-40fps when firefights begin with 100% CPU useage (temps max 70C with thermal throttling turned off) and about 40-50% GPU on high settings :(

looking at picking up a 8700k this time and something like an msi z370 Mobo to go with it.

rest of the parts ill be carrying over are:
GPU: msi R9 390
Ram: Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1333Mhz (does this need upgrading too?)
SSD: Samsung 850 evo 120GB (mostly for OS usaeage)
HDD: WD 500GB
PSU: Corsair CX750M

thoughts on this proposal? any edits welcomed but im looking to keep my spend on this refresh under £500.
I do play off a samsung TV currently so understand im restricted to 60hz/fps anyway but in future i will move to a higher hz monitor when i move house

thanks for any and all advice :)
 
orbitalwalsh said:
@DG1303

Welcome, what is the GPU load when your in a Firefight ?

and is the multiplayer? thats been known to be heavy on thread count !

*just saw gaming off TV which wouldn't be helping with input lag
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Never seen gpu run above 70-80% peak. It never seems stressed playing bf. Yeh it is the multipayer which I read as you say is very cpu heavy. Tried all the fixes etc I can find online like setting render ahead limits and unlocking cores etc but still chokes it.

Why would using the TV be such an issue? I know they can't keep up above 60fps but it shouldn't be causing drops to 30? I'm happy enough with a stable 60 for now.

billysielu said:
Cpu is your bottleneck. You'll want an i7. you need more ram anyway so I'd say get a cpu/mobo/ram bundle. That's your budget spent.

I'd also get a 500gb ssd and reinstall windows and install all programs and games on it. Remove hdd if you dont need to archive big files on it.
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Is there a good place to buy such things bundled? Or are you just meaning get all 3 at once?

I'll look into bigger ssd too yeh.

AETAaAS said:
I don't play BFV but I'm kinda surprised a 3570k is keeping it at 30-40fps. Is there anything running in the background? And what is your RAM usage during gaming?
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Yep it seems to be a problem for many people even running 4/5th gen from what I read. It's the 4 cores/threads limit hence why I'm looking at the 7800k with 6/12 now. Figure gaming will be heading this way anyway soon? I've had a solid 7 years out of my 3570k.

I close everything in the background whatever game I play and ram I haven't seen go above about 6gb usage although I figure this could be due to Windows restricting what the game can access etc? Happy to consider going to 16gb ram too
 
 
thanks orbital :)

i currently have a gigabyte z77-d3h mobo so ill probs get the z370-hd3 as i dont think my case supports a micro-atx

is there much difference between the gigabyte and the asrock pro 4 b360? found the asrock for £80 elsehwhere which seems a great price to me.

is it also worth getting the k version CPU? the non-k boosts pretty high already! i feel like my main gain will be going from 4/4 to 6/12 core/thread count rather than clock speeds?

thanks for the RAM link too. looks like better value that Corsair
 
billysielu said:
8700k is even better.
also echo comments about tvs and latency
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i havent found the TV input lag to be much of a problem tbh. noticeable when i first switched away from my monitor but doesnt stop me topping leaderboards or anything now :D i also dont play CS or other "twitch shooters" where i gather it may be more of an issue. i like more casual games just want them to be uber smooth and run on ultra graphics if i can.
 
AETAaAS said:
I wonder if the i7 is overkill? You can get the 6C12T Ryzen 5 2600 for £170, then get one of the upcoming B450 motherboards or find an updated BIOS B350 board. Or if you're impatient, splash out on an X470 board now?

The 2600 can average 140FPS in BF1, going to 170 on a 4.2 overclock. At those rates, your GPU is going to become the bottle neck.
https://www.techspot.com/review/1627-core-i5-8400-vs-ryzen-5-2600/
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happy to take a step back if it is overkill. i just want something that will do me the next 7 years as it were which is why i got the k variant 3rd gen last time. hoping to get at least another year from my gpu but will ultimately upgrade that at some point.
 
orbitalwalsh said:
ATX cases and support MATX and ITX boards.

the ASrock 4 Pro would be a better board the D3H due to increase VRM count- STRIX B360 and specially the B360 Aorus 3 blow the Pro 4 out the water with better VRM and full fledged chipset features as the wifi etc.

could grab the Z370 HD3 - Z chip so would allow you to through in a coffeelake K chip second hand in the future etc - though doubt you'll need it

as above , ryzen 2600 is another good option due to 6 cores and 12 threads- intel i5 8500/8600k with perform better for gaming but is only 6 core 6 thread, and coming from your current i5 - isnt to much of an 'upgrade' like jumping to i7

if your gong to get a 1440p screen in future- ryzen 2600 is a good shout, at 1080p - ball is still in intels court
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ive thought about 1440p but for now i dont fancy sinking ~500 quid into a monitor unfortunately. if it becomes more affordable in a few years il think about it.

the strix seem to go for about 100 which would be ok with me as that was about what i was thinking max spend on Mobo. aorus is a touch out of my budget at ~150 sadly. is the difference worth the extra £50?

the ryzen cpu looks like a good buy at half the price of an 8700k!!
 
orbitalwalsh said:
very nice package ! that X370 is the same as the very popular B350 Gaming 3 that we spec on here, just using the X370 chip

free SSD makes it worth while personally, more ram will always mean more costs, most games still recommend 8GB with 4GB being min- some games now going over 8GB but worth doing research into how much on the games you play . though we tend to recommend 16gb IF budget allows
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i may just go for that then if you guys rate it. leave OS where it is and run new games off the additonal SSD. ill probs go for 16GB RAM too if i get the ryzen as thats slashed the cost massively. would you agree orbital that the ryzen would be more than sufficient for years of gaming? im all for the i7 too if its worth it pound for pound but i originally got an i5 way back when because everyone told me i7 only really worth it for video encoding and stuff at the time. i started targeting the 8700k because intel is what i know and AMD didnt used to get a lot of praise back when i last built a system. seems they have stepped up now.

just found out i can get a free adaptor from coolermaster too for am4 compatibility
 
orbitalwalsh said:
Choice is hard isn't it.
Normally if you were after x370 board at launch would have suggested better board or after budget the b350 but seems that package is a nice deal and bios flashed

Both i7 and ryzen should last a long time ! I7 4 core has lasted 9 years and still performs well now !
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it really is! im leaning towards the ryzen pretty hard now though. saving just over 100 pounds and getting an ssd is pretty damn good (especially given how slow maps load on Battlefield off an HDD). can invest money saved in a beefy GPU in a year or so. see if anything userps the gtx 1080
 
interesting point! ill consider that in the near future :)

just been looking at prices for parts individually vs that bundle. is there much benefit to having RAM with 3200Mhz speed vs 3000?

also is the gigabyte mobo decent? or could it be let down by the VRM like the one referenced earlier?

if not then im basically ready to hit go on that bundle tbh.
 
orbitalwalsh said:
VRM count is on the low side, wouldn't personally slap in Zen 2 CPU in future if it has 10+ cores as power draw would be high .
It's a budget board and gets the job done for its price . B350 version was able to keep up with most x370 almost double the price but we're few draw backs and looks as well . What pushed most people was cost, it worked and UK support from Gigabyte .

If you were doing workstation loads, couldn't recommended the board, gaming and standard pc usage should be good

Would stick with 3000hz unless price is the same or cheaper. Again more expensive £170 boards could hit 3400hz to 3600, actually better then current x470 boards . Again £££ get you more
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what do you think to this combo then:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ocket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-69v-as.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...hz-socket-am4-processor-retail-cp-3af-am.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team...al-channel-kit-black-grey-tlgd-my-09s-tg.html

part-for-part prices are better i think but no free ssd.

edit: i want to make sure the mobo i get allows for simple overclocking of the cpu too
 
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ah right i see. tbh i dont really care what it looks like :) my pc is hidden in a cupboard anyway (well vented) and has no clear panels on it. just want it to be functional so i guess that gigabyte is the simplest choice? just want to make sure im maximising my bang-for-buck haha
 
orbitalwalsh said:
anything that comes for free is a score! haha
kit allows the cheapest option without having to hope for the board to come with the right bios or get it sorted but isnt the bees kness for boards etc .

that x370 Gaming 3 was only introduced into UK/EU recently so not surprised it has latest bios on it , only version they did sell at launch was the K3 which has the same VRM count but more style

based on the flashy k3
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hmm thats a shame. cant watch the vid yet as at work but is it going to stop me overclocking or anything? if it really is rather meh ill buy a better one and get all the bits seperately
 
What do you make of the x470 aorus? For £130 I think I could stretch to it if its a much better mobo. Seems to be only this and the x370 gaming 3 that come ready for ryzen 2000 gens
 
True the package is useful. I suppose the pertinent question is will I see a difference between the two mobos? Apart from. The £50 price difference? You run the k3 yourself then?
 
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